Passing the Time
by rachelisafallenangel
Summary: ["So you're one of the people that stopped dressing up at thirteen or whatever?"/"No, I never dressed up."/"You never dressed up for Halloween? How is that even possible?"/"It's never been something I wanted to do."/"No, that's unacceptable. Come on, let's go."] Dedicated to bs13 as another late birthday present and because she's the best ever! AU! Jara!


**The second oneshot for B's birthday (it's so freaking late, I feel so bad!) I might do one more, I'm not sure yet. As always, my Jara got a little out of hand and this went a little longer than I had planned on it going. Anyway, I got the idea from Tumblr AU list.**

**I don't like the title, but I couldn't think of anything else so shoosh. **

**Enjoy?**

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><p>Jerome Clarke dragged a hand through his blonde hair and left the <em>Employees Only<em> section of store. He walked through the aisles and wracks filled with Halloween costumes and special effects. The fake phone in the haunted house props display rang when he passed it and the robotic figures watched him with glowing red eyes as he finally made it to the front of the star, hopping over the counter and standing behind a cash register.

A woman and her son walked up with a packaged Iron Man costume and he went about the normal routine to check a customer out and they left with the kid begging to open the costume.

"Hey, Jerome," Mara Jaffray greeted, walking toward the counter, jumping, and placing a hand to her chest, when a skeleton laughed at her as she passed it.

Jerome pressed his lips together to refrain from laughing at her as well and she slapped him on the arm when she passed him to her cash register.

"So, Jaffray," he began but she cut him off,

"If you're going to make fun of me for working in a Halloween store when everything in here makes me jump, please save it, Henry already hit me with every joke in the book."

Jerome smirked and shrugged, holding his tongue like she requested.

They carried on with their jobs after that, not making eye contact, and never saying a word to each other.

This was how it was every day for Jerome and Mara. One of them would start a conversation and the other would stop it before it could continue. After that, they wouldn't associate for the rest of the day, only stealing quick glances at each other when they knew the other wasn't looking.

The day went on, more and more costumers filed in and out quickly, getting last minute costumes and props before it got dark. Jerome retreated to the back of the store before the real rush began. He busied himself with a book, finding a quiet hiding spot behind some boxes. When the clock struck eight, closing time, he changed out of his employee uniform and left the back room, tying his skinny black tie around his neck. The store was cleared of all customers and all the lights were dimmed. He made his way to the doors, knowing Henry would be the last one to leave and would lock up the store. He pulled his iPod out of his pocket and plugged his earbuds in, pushing on one of the double doors. He stopped and his dark eyebrows furrowed over his blue eyes.

He removed his earbuds and gave the doors another shove. He cursed loudly, kicking the door.

"Don't tell me."

Jerome looked back at Mara and huffed. "I forgot the store closes an hour early on Halloween. Of all the things I could forget." He mumbled a few colorful words to himself and dialed Henry's phone number, pacing between the cash registers.

Mara hopped up onto the counter, watching him silently.

"Hey, Henry, I need you to—" he stopped when the store manager yelled over the music and blared in the background. "No, you locked me and Mara in—" He frowned. "I don't care about the girl you're—Henry, don't hang up—asshole."

He dialed again and left a message when the voice mail answered instead of Henry.

"Let me take a wild guess." Mara spoke, tapping her heels against the side of the counter.

"Sorry, I ruined your Halloween."

"No, I forgot too, don't worry about it." she smiled lightly.

"Well, Henry's the only one with a key and the doors can only be unlocked from the outside, and unless we want to cause a scene and probably cost the store some money by calling for help from the fire department, I think we should just wait this out."

"Seems like the most logical thing to do." She nodded.

"I'm going to turn on the lights." He told her, making his way to the back of the store again and lifting the lever that illuminated the store. He rejoined Mara at the front of the store and sat on the counter beside her. "So, what were you going to be?"

"What?" she asked, pushing a lock of her black hair behind her ear.

"What were you going to dress up as?"

"Oh, nothing," she responded.

"Huh, I've never been that before." he chuckled when she rolled her eyes. "So you're one of the people that stopped dressing up at thirteen or whatever?"

"No, I never dressed up." she shrugged awkwardly.

"You never dressed up for Halloween?" he said in disbelief. "How is that even possible?"

"It's never been something I wanted to do."

Jerome looked away from her and silence fell between them as he pondered what Mara had told him. After a few minutes, he shook his head. "No, that's unacceptable. Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?" she asked hesitantly.

"We've got every type of costume in here, we're bound to find something you like and look good in. Come on."

"Jerome, we can't open the costumes." She scolded.

He turned back to her. "We're locked inside of a Halloween costume warehouse with nothing to do until morning, or Henry shows up. Do you think Henry would mind if we entertained ourselves? No, 'cause you've met Henry and you know he wouldn't care. Let's go." He took her hand and pulled her through the store.

Several of the displays and robots came to life when they passed by; werewolves howling, phones ringing, ghosts swishing, eyes flashing, and creepy images flashing in windows. Jerome stopped in the women's section and plucked one of the packaged costumes off a hook. He tossed it to her and she stared at the picture for a minute before handing it back to him.

"Are you kidding me?" she smiled. "I don't have enough leg to pull off a costume like that."

Jerome laughed, taking that statement as an opportunity to shamelessly stare at her jean clad legs. "I don't know about that. I like your legs."

Despite her blush, she managed a reply. "Thank you, but trust me, without model legs, I couldn't pull that off."

Jerome rolled his eyes and picked a different outfit. "Every day of the year, you might look at a dress like that and say you don't have the right body type, but on Halloween, you can wear it and no one's going to give a damn because it's Halloween and everyone's wearing something they shouldn't be wearing."

She looked down at the costume he handed her this time and shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Oh, come on, if you try that on, you can pick out anything for me to wear." He bargained.

Mara warily pondered his suggestion before nodding slowly. "Okay, I'll pick something for you."

He grinned after her when she turned into the aisle of men's costumes. A minute later, she returned, smacked a package against his chest and scurried into the backroom to change, a secretive smile playing on her lips.

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><p>When Mara emerged, dressed in a female cop outfit, she burst out laughing, covering her mouth as she gazed at Jerome standing in the middle of the aisle in a clown costume.<p>

He rolled his eyes as he turned to her and then froze, his cheeks tinting a light pink.

"What, do I take your breath away?" she teased.

Jerome blinked, pulling at the frilly collar on the costume. "Well, n-no, I mean, yes—I mean, um…" he laughed nervously, slipping his fingers through his hair to comfort himself. He crossed his arms over his chest and took on a more confidant pose, despite what he was wearing. "Officer Jaffray, I don't have a clue why you'd want to frisk me, but I won't resist."

It was her turn to blush and she planted her hands on her hips. "Jerome Clarke—"

"I'm sorry," he smiled.

She turned away from him and picked up another costume for him.

"Now you like it." he said knowingly.

"I'm not a very theatrical person. Putting myself out there isn't really my thing. I guess it's just easier when there's only one person around." She explained.

A few minutes later, she retreated to the back of the store to change into a medieval dress and when she came back out, Jerome was a bottle of ketchup.

"Why do you pick these costumes?" he demanded.

She didn't even try to control her laughter. She arched an eyebrow, trying to appear stern. "Why do you pick these costumes for me?"

"Well, with a body like yours, who wouldn't wear costumes like that?" he shot back.

She smiled shyly and tossed him a costume.

"I just realized that Halloween is like, the only day of the year parents will allow their children to take candy from strangers." He said, nearly breathing a sigh of relief when he saw the costume she had picked this time was a pirate.

"That's one of the weirdest things about it." she grinned, taking the costume he picked for her.

They changed again, and she poked him with a toy sword once she was wearing her own pirate costume.

He laughed, jumping away from her. "You know, you said that you can't pull these outfits off because you don't have enough leg."

"Yeah," she said warily, following him around the aisle, and he picked up his own toy sword.

"Yeah, well, you were right. But you have more than enough of everything else to make up for it." he grinned cheekily.

"You keep flirting with me!" she accused him.

"Who can help it when you're locked in a building with a beautiful woman?" he questioned blatantly.

The skeleton behind him laughed and Mara jumped, her pirate hat falling off her head. Jerome laughed again, swiftly taking the hat from the floor and dropping hit on his head.

"You're squishing your hair." Mara pointed out, tossing her plastic sword onto a shelf.

"Oh, crap," Jerome mumbled, removing the hat, and pushing his fingers through his hair.

Mara pressed her lips together, shoulders shaking with laughter.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"I'm just thinking about you in that ketchup bottle costume." She shook her head.

"It wasn't that funny."

"Oh no, it was, but a ketchup bottle has never been so handsome." She assured him.

He smirked, taking a step forward to close the distance between them. "I'm handsome?"

"You know you are." She responded.

"I didn't know you thought so."

"This took an interesting turn." She murmured when he cupped the back of her neck with his hand.

"A very nice turn," he whispered, pressing his lips to hers.

"Whoa!"

Jerome and Mara broke apart and turned to Henry. He laughed, a suggestive look on his face. "I thought you wanted me to let you out. Would you like me to leave?"

"No," Mara shook her head when Jerome said, "Yes."

Mara slapped Jerome on the arm. "We have to leave Jerome."

"What, you don't want to kiss me again?"

"I didn't say that." she blushed.

"Do what you want." Henry waved a hand dismissively, tossing Jerome the keys, and heading back for the doors. "Just lock up when you're finished, yeah?"

"Do you really want to leave?" Jerome asked disappointedly.

Mara smiled. "There's this frog costume I want you to try on."

"Oh, no, Jaffray," he protested but let her pull him back through the store.

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><p><strong>Review?<strong>

**"So here's my song I wrote in time, when it was needed. Through pain of heart or loss of mind, your burden's lifted. You aren't alone, just know that I can't save our hearts tonight..." -Carolyn, Black Veil Brides**

**-Rachel**


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